New Sony DVP-FX930 Player (black)

The good: Hi-res 9-inch screen with 800x480 declaration; full 180-degree swivel display; includes remote manage, AV cable, and car charger; reliable 6-hour battery.

The bad: Somewhat hefty 2.7-pound weight; no USB port or flash card reader; no support for DivX or additional digital video files.

The bottom line: The grouping of a striking high-resolution 9-inch screen, long battery life, and remarkable design makes the Sony DVP-FX930 a winning transportable DVD player.

In 2008, Sony released the DVP-FX820, a portable DVD player that considerably augmented picture quality over previous models. For 2009, the company has upped the ante once again, this time present a 9-inch swivel screen and light-touch buttons. The result is still the best performance practice we've seen on a portable DVD player, but we're not totally sold on the new buttons.

The DVP-FX930 has a soft plastic housing that Sony sells in a variety of colors--the one we experienced was accented in dark blue. The player is one of the weighty we've seen, weighing a sturdy 2.7 pounds. We liked the assignment of the unit's battery that runs along the whole bottom of the player. It may be large, but it's flat enough so that it doesn't jut at all, unlike the Toshiba SD-P71S, which has a small hit on the rear.

All of the DVD controls are situated below the screen, making them easily nearby even if you take improvement of the swivel hinge and watch the unit in tablet mode. The screen can flip a total 180 degrees and fold back on itself to be held in your hands. We were joyful to see that most DVD controls were represented here, including the occasionally forgotten fast-forward and rewind functionality (just move the four-way directional pad left or right during playback). Unfortunately, the new light-touch buttons don't move when pressed. They're sensitive enough--we just enjoyed the sensitivity of last year's model better. Appreciatively the four-way directional button remained unmoved.